In my last post I forgot to include a brief mention of the general labor strike that occurred in Spain on March 29. Because the Spanish economy is tanking, the government is making strict budget cuts that will affect workers and their conditions. The general strike was organized by the two major labor unions in protest of these cuts. To give you an idea of how bad it is, unemployment is 24%, youth unemployment is almost 40%, and it’s expected to get worse. I just found out that the British government has a plan ready to evacuate its students from Spain in case of a bank meltdown.
This happened right before our spring break, which meant that most of my friends were trying to travel that day. However, public transportation was barely running, so getting from Toledo to Madrid was nearly impossible. The lucky ones were able to get taxis. I, however, was the actual lucky one, and didn’t have to travel the next day. So I spent some of the day sitting in the main plaza and observing the protests. My pictures didn’t turn out great; I was taking them from my pocket because one cop kept staring me down.
For more information, here’s a good video from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17551969. It shows clashes between protesters and the police, which happened mostly in Madrid and Barcelona. From what I saw, Toledo’s protests were pretty calm. And here is an article about the final budget announcements: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17565813.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about the general strike. It certainly draws attention to workers’ issues, which in Spain are definitely in need of being re-examined. According to the budget cuts announced on March 30, the salaries of public sector workers will be frozen and they will have to work longer hours at the same wage. At the same time, I’m not sure a general strike is what Spain needs right now. The government doesn’t seem to have much of a choice. They’ve made such terrible budget decisions in the last two decades that they don’t seem to have anything else to do but to cut benefits; they simply can’t afford it. There is also a lot of pressure from the EU to tighten things up, a fact which a lot of people haven’t acknowledged or evaluated. But, at the same time, if wages get frozen and benefits are cut, how can people spend (not to mention function…)?
Work ethic is a strange thing in Spain. Its most notable facet is the siesta, the three-hour break in the afternoon in which everything, and I mean everything (except McDonald’s) shuts down. The work day is basically 9-2 and then 5-8. On the one hand I think this is a great tradition; it lets workers go home and eat with their families, maybe take a quick nap, and then finish up the day refreshed. But I think in the time of a recession, it’s just losing Spain money. I’ve seen many tourists in Toledo completely baffled when they go to find lunch, or even just a café to sit in, and not one is open. I think even if they just cut an hour off the siesta, the amount of money they’d recover from it would be worth it.
Also, when she was visiting, my mom noted that Spaniards have no idea how to sell a product. She compared a lot of the tourists sites here to Disneyworld, where they know how to make use of a few handy tricks to get you to buy more stuff. For example, the gift shops are always open an hour longer than the actual attraction. Not so in Spain. It’s just not the way Spaniards think. They’d rather do their work and go home than stay open longer and try to find ways to get a little more money out of the tourists. In a lot of ways, I think this non-obsession with making money is great. But, as Spain is in a recession, this attitude is not helping.
I’m genuinely concerned about Spain’s economic future. The government, especially the prime minister, insist that these cuts will strengthen the economy and allow it to grow again, but there is a real risk that the cuts will just cause the country to spiral. I’m hoping for the best.
mainlyontheplain 